125 Tricky and Fun 'Jeopardy' Questions To Test Your Knowledge

Renee Hanlon

August 2, 2024 at 8:10 AM·17 min read

What's not to love about game shows? Not only are they fun to watch but many of us love to try and play along. One of the most popular game shows is Jeopardy!, which tests our knowledge with trivia questions in a variety of categories like movies, literature, history and more. The format is a little different than what you would expect since the answers are given first as a clue and contestants have to come up with the question as the answer. Luckily, we're giving you both. Test your knowledge to see if you can guess the Jeopardy questions that go with the answers.

Whether you want to buff up your knowledge or simply quiz your friends, these brain stumpers will give your mind a real workout. You may even want to host your own Jeopardy! party for a little healthy competition. One thing is for sure, you won't be short of questions (or should we say answers) to use. This collection of 125 questions for Jeopardy! is broken into specific categories and includes some questions that are a bit easier to figure out. You may be surprised at how many answers you know!

Related: New Pop Culture 'Jeopardy' Spinoff Gets a Host

Best Jeopardy Questions and Answers

1. Clue: On April 18, 1977 he won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for his novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family.
Correct Response: Who was Alex Haley?

2. Clue: Due to police irregularities, this man's Arizona conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966.
Correct Response: Who is Ernesto Miranda?

3. Clue: In 1839 the first of several wars broke out over the trade of an extract from a certain type of plant/flower.
Correct Response: What is a poppy plant?

4. Clue: It's the only island whose territory makes up parts of 3 different independent nations.
Correct Response: What is Borneo?

5. Clue: After giving birth in Paris, American Marjorie Karmel wrote "Thank you" to him and co-founded an organization now named for him.
Correct Response: Who is Dr. Fernand Lamaze?

6. Clue: The last time there were no living former presidents was when this man was president.
Correct Response: Who is Richard Nixon?

7. Clue: It's the only continent with no active volcanoes.
Correct Response: What is Australia?

8. Clue: All that is known about her life is limited to nine days in August 1587.
Correct Response: Who is Virginia Dare?

9. Clue: In 1981, this man's company issued its first syndicated CSI, Customer Satisfaction Index.
Correct Response: Who is J.D. Power?

10. Clue: In 1984, in the first of the films featuring this character, he only has 21 lines, for a total of 133 words.
Correct Response: Who is The Terminator?

11. Clue: This 1951 Humphrey Bogart film was based on a book by C.S. Forester.
Correct Response: What is The African Queen?

12. Clue: This word for a friend comes from the Latin for "with whom you would eat bread."
Correct Response: What is a companion?

13. Clue: He was born in Connecticut in 1800 and hanged for treason in Virginia in 1859.
Correct Response: Who was John Brown?

14. Clue: A garment worn by some Muslim women to cover their hair.
Correct Response: What is a hijab?

15. Clue: The name for this news agency means "peninsula," referring to the Arabian Peninsula.
Correct Response: What is Al Jazeera?

16. Clue: The original title of the 1895 novel was The Chronic Argonauts.
Correct Response: What is The Time Machine?

17. Clue: This country's leaders have included Yusof Ishak, Benjamin Sheares and Lee Kuan Yew.
Correct Response: What is Singapore?

Jeopardy Questions About History

18. Clue: After more than 150 years, he's still the tallest president in U.S history.
Correct Response: Who is Abraham Lincoln?

19. Clue: Within a 3 1/2 year period, he became mayor of Buffalo, governor of New York, and president of the U.S.
Correct Response: Who is Grover Cleveland?

20. Clue: Founded in 1874, this political party advocated printing more money to help farmers.
Correct Response: What is the Greenback Party?

21. Clue: In 1864, this man became a lieutenant general and assumed command of all U.S. armies.
Correct Response: Who is Ulysses S. Grant?

22. Clue: Published in 1783, his American Spelling Book preceded his famous dictionary by 45 years.
Correct Response: Who is Noah Webster?

23. Clue: In 1875 this Tammany Hall "boss" escaped from prison and fled to Cuba and then to Spain.
Correct Response: Who is William Magear "Boss" Tweed?

24. Clue: In 1817, Congress divided a territory that became these two states that are practically mirror images of each other.
Correct Response: What are Alabama and Mississippi?

25. Clue: The first Mexican-American mayor of a major U.S. city, Henry Cisneros was mayor of this Texas city from 1981-1989.
Correct Response: What is San Antonio?

26. Clue: This revolt, chiefly by farmers, took place in Massachusetts in 1786.
Correct Response: What is Shays' Rebellion?

27. Clue: It's the election year the campaign slogans "The Moose is Loose" and "Ready for Teddy Again" were used.
Correct Response: What is 1912?

28. Clue: On September 17, 1862, this bloody battle in Maryland ended the first Confederate invasion of the North.
Correct Response: What is the Battle of Antietam?

29. Clue: On February 1, 1960, four students held a historic sit-in at a lunch counter in this North Carolina city in protest over segregation.
Correct Response: What is Greensboro?

30. Clue: In 1945 scientists in this state witnessed the detonation of the world's first atomic bomb.
Correct Response: What is New Mexico?

31. Clue: In his teens, this Pittsburgh "pickle king" was running a business to supply grocers with fresh produce.
Correct Response: Who is Henry Heinz?

32. Clue: Opened in 1937, it got its name in response to the George Washington Bridge, north of it.
Correct Response: What is the Lincoln Tunnel?

33. Clue: The ceiling of the great hall in this Cornelius Vanderbilt home in Rhode Island is painted as a cloud-swept sky.
Correct Response: What is The Breakers?

34. Clue: The last name of the man who broke ground for his first powder mills on Delaware's Brandywine River on July 19, 1802.
Correct Response: What is DuPont?

35. Clue: The "Never Blaine" Republicans who didn't support the 1884 GOP candidate were called these, from an Algonquian Indian word.
Correct Response: What are Mugwumps?

Jeopardy Questions About Literature

36. Clue: This Spielberg Holocaust film was based on a book by Thomas Keneally.
Correct Response: What is Schindler’s List?

37. Clue: 1944’s Absent in the Spring is one of the non-mystery novels she wrote under the name Mary Westmacott.
Correct Response: Who is Agatha Christie?

38. Clue: It’s the first name shared by bestselling authors Delinsky, Tuchman and Kingsolver.
Correct Response: What is Barbara?

39. Clue: This kid's lit classic has a chapter called “The Puppies Arrive”.
Correct Response: What is The Hundred and One Dalmatians?

40. Clue: Born a slave, Sethe escapes to Ohio but is haunted by memories of a lost baby in this Toni Morrison novel.
Correct Response: What is Beloved?

41. Clue: Pebble in the Sky was his first novel, the “Foundation” of a long and prolific career writing science fiction.
Correct Response: Who is Asimov?

42. Clue: This book by Boris Pasternak was banned in the USSR until 1987.
Correct Response: What is Doctor Zhivago?

43. Clue: Baseball writer Tyler Kepner took an in-depth look at 10 types of pitches in a book with this single letter as its title.
Correct Response: What is K?

44. Clue: This comedian may have decided “Life Will Be the Death of Me,” but not before she made the bestseller list.
Correct Response: Who is Chelsea Handler?

45. Clue: The Pioneers, the latest by David McCullough, features the settlers of this American territory just past the Ohio River.
Correct Response: What is the Northwest Territory?

46. Clue: In the epilogue to Moby-Dick, this rescued narrator quotes from the book of Job: “and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”
Correct Response: Who is Ishmael?

47. Clue: Emily Elizabeth and this large colorful canine have many adventures in works by Norman Bridwell.
Correct Response: Who is Clifford?

48. Clue: A futuristic society revolves around science and efficiency in this 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley.
Correct Response: What is Brave New World?

49. Clue: A House Divided completed Pearl Buck’s trilogy that began 4 years earlier with this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Correct Response: What is The Good Earth?

50. Clue: “I woke to the sound of a mosquito whining in my left ear”, begins 2000’s Fever 1793, about an epidemic of this disease.
Correct Response: What is yellow fever?

51. Clue: The federal laureate position is technically called “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry” by this library.
Correct Response: What is The Library of Congress?

52. Clue: The party tree that grew in this Middle-Earth land was the location of Bilbo’s farewell speech.
Correct Response: What is the Shire?

53. Clue: This Narnian lion appears in several other forms, including a lamb.
Correct Response: Who is Aslan?

Jeopardy Questions About Movies

54. Clue: The blonde preferred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Correct Response: Who is Marilyn Monroe?

55. Clue: The make of car that starts up immediately after 200 years in Woody Allen's Sleeper.
Correct Response: What is the Volkswagen Beetle?

56. Clue: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling starred in this 2016 movie together.
Correct Response: What is La La Land?

57. Clue: The first Academy Awards, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in 1929, saw this war movie winning for "Outstanding Picture."
Correct Response: What is Wings?

58. Clue: Creators of Casper say this film's logo plagiarized one of their characters.
Correct Response: What is Ghostbusters?

59. Clue: This famous PBS bird has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Correct Response: Who is Big Bird?

60. Clue: In this 1961 movie, Audrey Hepburn had a cat with no name.
Correct Response: What is Breakfast at Tiffany's?

61. Clue: The three stars of Rebel Without a Cause who met with untimely deaths.
Correct Response: Who are Natalie Wood, James Dean and Sal Mineo?

62. Clue: In Jezebel, Bette Davis' character shocked New Orleans society by wearing a dress of this color to the ball.
Correct Response: What is red?

63. Clue: Kevin Costner starred in this 1989 film based on the novel Shoeless Joe.
Correct Response: What is Field of Dreams?

64. Clue: Stewart O'Nan's West of Sunset chronicles the life of this troubled writer in 1937 Hollywood.
Correct Response: Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?

65. Clue: This 1955 movie musical featured Rod Steiger in a dream ballet choreographed by Agnes de Mille.
Correct Response: What is Oklahoma?

66. Clue: In the 1930s, Hollywood censor Joseph Breen suggested that movies use these items of furniture in marital scenes.
Correct Response: What are twin beds?

67. Clue: A Streetcar Named Desire earned this actress her second Oscar, at 38.
Correct Response: Who is Vivien Leigh?

68. Clue: Original wording of the Hollywood sign.
Correct Response: What is "Hollywoodland"?

69. Clue: In Free Willy, Willy is this type of creature.
Correct Response: What is a killer whale?

70. Clue: This 1995 film tells the story of a piglet who dreams of being a sheepdog.
Correct Response: What is Babe?

71. Clue: In his first feature film, he played the Scarecrow in The Wiz.
Correct Response: Who is Michael Jackson?

Jeopardy Questions About Sports

72. Clue: A kick returner who touches but fails to catch the football has committed one of these hand warmers.
Correct Response: What is a muff?

73. Clue: This college coach lent his name to a youth football league.
Correct Response: Who is Pop Warner?

74. Clue: Close basketball shot from the tip of the hand into the basket.
Correct Response: What is a finger roll?

75. Clue: Basketball rules made just to hamper this 100-point scorer include you can't throw an inbounds pass over the rim.
Correct Response: Who is Wilt Chamberlain?

76. Clue: Herb Brooks coached the U.S. to the "Miracle on Ice" hockey victory at this site in the Adirondacks.
Correct Response: What is Lake Placid?

77. Clue: Basketball players learn not to move this foot, the term for the axle around which a wheel turns.
Correct Response: What is a pivot?

78. Clue: Long thought to have invented baseball, he fought for the Union at Antietam and Gettysburg.
Correct Response: Who is Abner Doubleday?

79. Clue: Starting in 1948, this "Mr. Hockey" was named to a record 21 NHL All-Star teams.
Correct Response: Who is Gordie Howe?

80. Clue: A player who can legally catch a pass is this type of receiver; some are bachelors too.
Correct Response: What is eligible?

81. Clue: In 2019, this Yankee pitcher became the first unanimous selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Correct Response: Who is Mariano Rivera?

82. Clue: Brian Urlacher and Walter Payton both played for this NFL team.
Correct Response: What is the Chicago Bears?

83. Clue: In the NFL, each of these measures 10 yards by 53 1/3 yards.
Correct Response: What is an end zone?

84. Clue: Bear Bryant led Maryland and two other schools before rolling to 232 wins at this university.
Correct Response: What is the University of Alabama?

85. Clue: This West Coast team is the only one whose team city and name are both in Spanish.
Correct Response: Who are the San Diego Padres?

86. Clue: A slow, tricky pitch on the baseball diamond.
Correct Response: What is a knuckleball?

87. Clue: In 2008 Sue Bird helped the U.S. win its fourth straight Olympic gold medal in this sport.
Correct Response: What is basketball?

88. Clue: Backwards, or a double handoff football play.
Correct Response: What is a reverse?

89. Clue: Baseball's "Stan the Man" who played in a record 24 All-Star games.
Correct Response: Who is Stan Musial?

Jeopardy Questions About Music

90. Clue: At the Concert for Bangladesh, George got this guitarist to chime in on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
Correct Response: Who is Eric Clapton?

91. Clue: This 1961 Elvis movie soundtrack LP contained the hits "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Rock-a-Hula Baby."
Correct Response: What is Blue Hawaii?

92. Clue: She had a #1 hit in each year of the '90s—the only singer to do so.
Correct Response: Who is Mariah Carey?

93. Clue: Among nicknames of Britney Spears' former hubby; also the name of a shipping company.
Correct Response: What is FedEx?

94. Clue: David Bowie ch-ch-changed his name from Davy Jones to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of this group.
Correct Response: Who are The Monkees?

95. Clue: Sondheim won an Oscar for "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" sung by this woman in the film Dick Tracy.
Correct Response: Who is Madonna?

96. Clue: Burt Bacharach and Elvis played street musicians (with a grand piano) in this title guy's The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Correct Response: Who is Austin Powers?

97. Clue: "Charlie's good tonight, isn't he?" Mick Jagger asks the crowd on a live album, referring to this drummer.
Correct Response: Who is Charlie Watts?

98. Clue: Chuck Berry's first Top-40 hit was this one about a girl in a Coupe de Ville.
Correct Response: What is "Maybellene"?

99. Clue: She released "Genie in a Bottle" in 1999.
Correct Response: Who is Christina Aguilera?

100. Clue: Rod Stewart earned his only platinum record for this 1978 song in question.
Correct Response: What is "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

101. Clue: John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in this band.
Correct Response: What is The Beatles?

102. Clue: Marion "Suge" Knight and Tupac Shakur's rap-music record label.
Correct Response: What is Death Row Records?

103. Clue: This "fashionable" hit helped make Justin Timberlake's album The 20/20 Experience one of the biggest sellers of 2013.
Correct Response: What is "Suit & Tie"?

104. Clue: After hearing Elvis live in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, he switched to singing rock 'n' roll.
Correct Response: Who is Buddy Holly?

105. Clue: "This Bird Has Flown" was the original title of this tune, the first pop song to feature the sitar.
Correct Response: What is "Norwegian Wood"?

106. Clue: This one-named singer, whose name means "most exalted one" in Swahili, tragically died in a plane crash in 2001.
Correct Response: Who is Aaliyah?

107. Clue: This Elvis song contains the lyrics: "If you can't come around, at least please telephone."
Correct Response: What is "Don't Be Cruel"?

Final Jeopardy Questions

108. Clue: In 1994, WIRED magazine described this 4-letter word as an idea leaping "from mind to mind ... as viruses leap from body to body."
Correct Response: What is a meme?

109. Clue: With the same initials as the author, Harry Haller is the loner protagonist of this 1927 German Novel.
Correct Response: What is Steppenwolf?

110. Clue: Based on a myth, this 1913 play became a 1938 movie, a 1956 stage musical and a 1964 movie musical.
Correct Response: What is Pygmalion?

111. Clue: This city was destroyed in 79 CE because of Mount Vesuvius.
Correct Response: What is Pompeii?

112. Clue: A flag bearing a white anchor and caduceus on a blue field represents this U.S. government official.
Correct Response: Who is the surgeon general?

113. Clue: The last song in this musical is "Tomorrow is a Latter Day."
Correct Response: What is The Book of Mormon?

114. Clue: Introduced in the '70s to replace steel belting on high-speed tires, it's called stronger than steel and lighter than nylon.
Correct Response: What is Kevlar?

115. Clue: He was the 12th President of the United States.
Correct Response: Who was Zachary Taylor?

116. Clue: From a flowering plant, the Aztecs used it as a chocolate enhancer and the Spanish called it this, meaning "little pod."
Correct Response: What is vanilla?

117. Clue: A Norse explorer thought to set foot on America before Christopher Columbus.
Correct Response: Who is Leif Erikson?

118. Clue: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind" precedes a famous line from his works.
Correct Response: Who is John Donne?

119. Clue: This 1997 movie focuses on a janitor at MIT.
Correct Response: What is Good Will Hunting?

120. Clue: The two Civil War generals on the winning Republican presidential ticket of 1880.
Correct Response: Who were James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur?

121. Clue: On February 21, 1965, he was killed in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
Correct Response: Who was Malcolm X?

122. Clue: In 1921, he was appointed an advisor on Arab affairs to then British Colonial Minister Winston Churchill.
Correct Response: Who was Thomas Edward Lawrence?

123. Clue: In 1998, America's second-largest federal building was named in his honor.
Correct Response: Who is Ronald Reagan?

124. Clue: The author of a famous book that takes place in "Gilead."
Correct Response: Who is Margaret Atwood?

125. Clue: Book 1, Chapter 4 of this 1880 work is entitled "The Third Son Alyosha."
Correct Response: What is The Brothers Karamazov?

Next Up: Our List of 205 'Paranoia Questions' Will Be Perfect for Your Next Game Night

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